6.  The applicants live in Tallinn, except for the fourth applicant who lives in Kiviõli.
7.  The Bronze Soldier, originally named “Monument to the Liberators of Tallinn”, was unveiled on 22 September 1947, on the third anniversary of the entry of the Soviet Red Army into Tallinn. It was erected in Tõnismägi, central Tallinn, above a small burial site of Soviet soldiers’ remains reburied in April 1945. The monument consisted of a statue of a soldier in a Second World War-era Red Army military uniform set against a stone background.
8.  From 2004 onwards demands for the removal or relocation of the Bronze Soldier intensified. Also, on 22 September (the anniversary of the entry of the Red Army into Tallinn in 1944) and 9 May (Soviet Victory Day in the Second World War), crowds of mainly Russian speakers, including veterans and younger people, gathered at the monument. From 2006 onwards in particular, there began to be instances of confrontation in the vicinity of the monument, which the police were able to keep under control. On some occasions the monument was smeared with paint.
9.  In early 2007 the Protection of War Graves Act (Sõjahaudade kaitse seadus) was enacted by the Riigikogu (the Estonian Parliament) and provided for the reburial of remains and relocation of monuments in cases where war graves were located at unsuitable sites. The Bronze Soldier was a prominent issue in the electoral campaign ahead of the parliamentary elections on 4 March 2007.
10.  During the night of 25-26 April 2007 the monument’s defenders were removed by police from the square where the Bronze Soldier was located, and the area was cordoned off. A large tent structure was erected over the monument and the graves in preparation for the exhumation of the remains of the Soviet soldiers. By the evening of 26 April 2007 a large group of people, mostly Russian speakers, had gathered at Tõnismägi and expressed their discontent with the Government’s actions. Shouting “Shame!” and “Fascists!” they refused to comply with police orders and some attempted to break through the police cordon. The group turned more violent and started throwing stones and empty bottles at the police. The police forced the protesters out of Tõnismägi. The crowd then started committing acts of vandalism and looting shops and buildings in neighbouring streets. There were clashes with the police, who in response used truncheons, rubber bullets and plastic handcuffs. A large number of people were arrested. According to some sources approximately a third of those detained were ethnic Estonians; ethnic Estonians were also among those charged with looting and theft.
11.  Early in the morning of 27 April 2007 the Government decided to move the monument from Tõnismägi, and a few days later it was re-erected in a military cemetery. On the evening of 27 April 2007 protesters returned to Tõnismägi. The police again cordoned off the area and carried out arrests, this time within a wider radius of the monument’s former location. Disorder and vandalism continued for a second night. Although the protests were unauthorised, there was no formal ban on visiting the city centre. Nevertheless, on 27 April 2007 the Government, through the mass media and messages sent to people’s e-mail addresses and mobile phones, asked people to stay at home and not to respond to provocation.
12.  According to the information provided by the Government, on 26 April 2007 there were 7,000 to 8,000 people in the streets of Tallinn. On 27 April 2007 4,000 to 5,000 people took part in the riots in Tallinn, and on 28 April 2007 the number of rioters was 3,000 to 4,000. Approximately 1,500 officers participated in police operations in Tallinn, but considering the fact that at any time some were off duty, some were in reserve and some were guarding important facilities, during the peak period there could have been approximately 1,000 officers protecting public order in the streets in Tallinn.
13.  According to the official sources referred to by the applicants, in total more than 1,160 people were arrested (of whom 500 were Estonian nationals, nearly 100 were Russian nationals and more than 300 were persons of undetermined citizenship). One person was stabbed to death and 156 were injured (including twenty-nine policemen). The police recorded 148 cases of vandalism. By 18 May 2007 the authorities had opened sixty-five criminal cases involving 300 suspects, mostly concerning serious breach of public order and disregard of lawful orders given by representatives of the state authority.
14.  The first applicant was arrested on 27 April 2007 at 11.30 p.m. in Viru Street in the city centre. He states that he was kicked to the ground by the police officers and made to lie face down on the road, where there was a lot of broken glass. He was handcuffed and taken to a storage facility at the port (D‑terminal). According to the applicant, the police officers refused to tell him where he was being taken or to give any reasons for the arrest.
15.  By 1 a.m. on 28 April 2007 about 350 people were being held at D‑terminal, a storage facility which measured 19 metres by 6 metres. The applicant was told to squat against the wall.
16.  The first applicant submitted that detainees who attempted to stand up because their legs had gone numb or as a protest were kicked to the ground, hit with rubber truncheons and beaten. According to the first applicant he was struck so hard that he fell to the floor. He claimed that he was repeatedly beaten with truncheons and kicked in the stomach by police officers wearing heavy boots.
17.  According to a medical report issued on 2 May 2007 and submitted by the first applicant, it appears that he had a haematoma and was diagnosed with pelvic contusion in the right side of the lumbo-sacral region. A medical record was also submitted to the domestic authorities to substantiate his criminal complaint (see paragraph 45 below).
18.  The applicant also submitted to the Court a written statement from Zh., dated 28 May 2008, concerning their arrest and detention. According to Zh., the first applicant was well known to him. Zh. confirmed that during their detention in D-terminal, the first applicant had stood up in order to stretch his legs. A plain-clothes person had told him to sit or to lie down (“Maha!” in Estonian meaning “Down!”). The first applicant inquired on what basis he was being given those orders, but instead of a response he was pushed down and kicked while down on the floor. He was kicked in the stomach.
19.  The police kept the first applicant’s personal details and released him at 4 a.m. on 28 April 2007 without charge. According to the applicant no explanations or grounds for his detention were given, his rights were not explained to him and he was not given any official record of his detention.
20.  The second applicant, who was a minor at the time, states that he was arrested on 27 April 2007 at 7.30 p.m. in Tuukri Street. After witnessing the arrest of three individuals aged approximately 15-16 who were walking in front of him in the street, the second applicant became scared and attempted to run away but was caught by a police officer who threw him on to the ground, held him down and tied his hands with plastic straps. He was taken by bus to D-terminal without being given any reasons for his arrest or being allowed to call his mother. About three hours later he was asked how old he was, after which his handcuffs were removed. Nevertheless, it was another two hours until the police officers called his mother, who was working a night shift and therefore could not come and collect him. He was taken home at 4 a.m. on 28 April 2007.
21.  As submitted by the third applicant, he was arrested on 27 April 2007 at 2 a.m. on the corner of Viru Street and Pärnu Street on his way home after a date with his girlfriend. He was approached by police officers, ordered to lie on the ground and handcuffed. At 3 a.m. on 27 April 2007 he was taken to Rahumäe Detention Centre. He was searched and, allegedly without being told his rights or allowed to make a phone call, placed in a cell designated for four inmates where there were soon to be twenty.
22.  According to a report on the detention of the third applicant as a suspect, drawn up on 27 April 2007, he had been arrested at 3 a.m. His rights and obligations were explained to him, including the right to be assisted by counsel and to make complaints, and this was confirmed by his signature. The report also contained the third applicant’s request to call his mother, as well as the statement that he was suspected of a serious breach of public order. It was further noted that there were grounds to believe that he could continue to breach public order if released.
23.  According to a report drawn up by a senior police inspector, I.Z., who had arrested the applicant, he had been arrested because he had participated in a serious breach of public order involving active violence, and had also incited others present to commit similar offences. He had had to be arrested to prevent him from continuing with this activity.
24.  On 27 April 2007 from 9 p.m. to 9.15 p.m. the third applicant was interviewed by a prosecutor as a suspect of a serious breach of public order. The record of the interview states that the applicant explained that he and his girlfriend had gone to see what was going on around the Bronze Soldier on 26 April 2007 at 10.30 p.m. and after that they were walking around in the city centre. He had done nothing when he was arrested on 27 April 2007 at around 3 a.m. According to the third applicant he had been questioned in Estonian without an interpreter. He was released at 10.47 p.m. on 27 April 2007. He left with a prohibition on leaving his place of residence.
25.  On 12 October 2007 the criminal investigation in respect of the third applicant was terminated because it could not be established that an offence had been committed.
26.  According to the fourth applicant’s submissions, he was watching the protest on the evening of 27 April 2007 in Kaarli Avenue. At 10.30 p.m. the policemen started firing at the crowd with rubber bullets. One of the bullets hit the fourth applicant’s right arm. He was subsequently hit on the head with one or more truncheons, causing a serious wound. He was then hit on the knee, which caused him to fall to the ground. His arms were bound and he was thrown into a car. He was not allowed to make a phone call or told his rights or the reasons why he had been arrested. His requests for first aid were ignored. He was taken to D‑terminal, where he started to lose consciousness. Only at this point was his head bandaged. When he started to feel worse, a nurse examined him and advised that he should be taken to hospital.
27.  According to a medical report submitted to the Court he arrived at the hospital at 11.30 p.m. on 27 April 2007. He was diagnosed with a haematoma on his skull. A medical report was also submitted to the national authorities to substantiate the fourth applicant’s criminal complaint (see paragraph 45 below).
28.  The fourth applicant submitted to the Court a written statement from N.R., dated 29 February 2008, concerning the use of force by law-enforcement officers at Kaarli Avenue. According to N.R.’s statement, on 27 April 2007 at about 8 p.m. he had gone to Kaarli Avenue in the capacity of reporter, carrying a camera and also a reporter’s card. He stayed there until 10 p.m. At about 9.45 p.m. policemen with special gear, equipped with helmets, shields and truncheons rushed at the gathered people. The people who had started to run away clashed with a “special squad” of policemen. It was the onlookers who were the first to run up to the “special squad”, who handled them roughly. The people were pushed back and shouted at “Back!” and “Down!” If they resisted, that is did not drop to the ground, they were beaten with truncheons without warning, even though they were not displaying any signs of aggression. They were kicked to the ground, their hands were bound behind their back and they were again bludgeoned with truncheons. Even those who chose to submit were bound and sometimes hit. From time to time officers of the “special squad” went for one person in a group of two or three. The fourth applicant is not mentioned in N.R.’s statements.
29.  By a decision of 25 May 2007 the Põhja Police Prefecture, in misdemeanour proceedings, fined the fourth applicant 420 kroons (EEK, corresponding to approximately twenty-seven euros (EUR)) for a breach of public order. According to this decision it had been established that on 28 April 2007 at 11.25 p.m., the night after he had sustained the injury described above, the fourth applicant had brawled and had thrown a lit rocket in the street in the centre of Tallinn. He did not appeal against the decision.
30.  The fifth applicant stated that he had been with some friends near Harju Hill at 9.30 p.m. on 27 April 2007 when he was suddenly attacked by police officers. He was kicked to the ground and three officers started hitting him on the head with truncheons and kicking him in the head. His arm was broken as he tried to protect his head with his arm. He was taken to D‑terminal and made to squat without being allowed to stand up. According to the applicant, detainees who tried to stand up were severely beaten. Although the fifth applicant complained of pain in his arm, he was not given any medical treatment. He was not told why he had been detained; nor was he allowed to make a phone call or told his rights. He was released at 5.30 a.m. the next day.
31.  According to a medical report submitted to the Court, the fifth applicant arrived at the hospital at 12.26 p.m. on 28 April 2007 and was diagnosed with a fractured forearm. A medical report was also submitted to the national authorities to substantiate his criminal complaint (see paragraph 45 below).
32.  The fifth applicant also submitted to the Court written statements from Z. and K., both dated 2 June 2008, describing the circumstances of his arrest and the violence used by the police officers against him.
33.  According to Z.’s statement, on 27 April 2007 between 9.30 p.m. and 10 p.m. he had gone to Kaarli Avenue to see what was happening at the monument together with the fifth applicant and K. Z. spent some time talking to an acquaintance. When he turned to the fifth applicant, he saw a policeman attacking him from behind and twisting his arm. Fifteen seconds later two more policemen came running. They pushed the fifth applicant to the ground. One of the policemen put his foot on him and all three started to hit the fifth applicant on his head with truncheons. The fifth applicant covered his head with his arm. Z. ran away. The next day he went to a doctor with the fifth applicant.
34.  K. stated that he met the fifth applicant and Z. on 27 April 2007 at around 9 p.m. They went to Kaarli Avenue. He saw a policeman attacking the fifth applicant from behind. A moment later two more policemen ran up to him. He was pushed to the ground and beaten with truncheons. Then K. was also hit with a truncheon, he fell down and his hands were twisted. K. and the fifth applicant were taken to D-terminal. The fifth applicant told him on several occasions that his arm was hurting. In D-terminal, people who failed to comply with the orders to sit were beaten.
35.  According to the sixth applicant, some time after 6 p.m. on 27 April 2007 he and his wife went to see what was happening at the Bronze Soldier and to take some photos for the family album. At 11 p.m., when the police started using truncheons, gas and grenades to disperse the crowd, the applicant and his wife decided to leave and go home. On their way home at 12.40 a.m. on 28 April 2007 they saw two men fighting on the opposite side of Väike-Karja Street (the Court notes that if the dates of the official documents referred to in paragraphs 36 to 38 below are correct, the dates mentioned in this paragraph should read 26 April and 27 April 2007 respectively). According to the sixth applicant, he stayed to stop the fight and his wife went home. The fight stopped without any intervention from the applicant and he continued on his way home. He then joined a group of four people who were asking the police to let them go home to Pärnu Street to get away from the fights and looting in Väike-Karja Street. However, the police officers ordered them to go to Väike-Karja Street. According to the applicant, approximately fifteen or twenty minutes later the policemen approached them, brandishing their truncheons, while at the same time another group of policemen began attacking them from the other side. The sixth applicant and the other people were first made to stand against the wall of a house and then tied to each other with plastic bands and handcuffed. No explanations were given as to the reasons for their arrest. Their personal details were recorded. Approximately two hours later a vehicle arrived and the applicant and the other people were taken to Rahumäe Detention Centre. According to the sixth applicant he was searched and placed in a cell which was designed for four people, together with seventeen others.
36.  According to a report on the detention of the sixth applicant as a suspect, drawn up on 27 April 2007, he had been arrested at 1 a.m. His rights and obligations were explained to him, including the right to be assisted by counsel and the right to make complaints, which was confirmed by his signature. The report also stated that he was suspected of having committed a serious breach of public order. It was further noted that there were grounds to believe that he could continue to breach public order if released.
37.  On 27 April 2007 from 8.15 p.m. to 8.50 p.m. the sixth applicant was interviewed by a prosecutor on suspicion of having committed a serious breach of public order. The report contains the sixth applicant’s signature to confirm that he was aware of his rights and did not need a lawyer. According to the sixth applicant, although he had been offered a State-assigned lawyer, his status was not explained to him and nor was the importance of having a lawyer. Moreover, the investigator persuaded him to refuse the lawyer’s assistance, saying that he would be acquitted in court. This is how he came to refuse the lawyer’s services.
38.  The record of the interview states that the sixth applicant said that after his wife had gone home he had gone to see what was happening. He had been arrested at 1 a.m. on 27 April 2007, although he had committed no offences, but had merely been watching what was going on. He was then released. He left with a prohibition on leaving his place of residence.
39.  On 1 October 2007, after interviewing the sixth applicant again, the police terminated the criminal investigation in his regard because it could not be established that an offence had been committed.
40.  The seventh applicant was arrested on 28 April 2007 at 11 p.m. while he was walking to a bus stop. The applicant stated that a police officer approached him and asked to see his identity papers. When the seventh applicant produced them, the police officer asked for details of his citizenship. When the seventh applicant asked why this mattered, the policeman answered: “You will see now” and he tied the seventh applicant’s hands together with tape. He was taken in a police vehicle to a court building. There, he was made to stand against a wall and when he tried to move, police officers pushed him, causing him to hit his head on the floor and hurt it badly. He stated that the police officers hit him repeatedly on the head and one police officer kicked him in the genitals. The police officers also pulled his legs in different directions, sat on him and shouted at him. After half an hour he was taken to a cell, where he spent the night. His rights were not explained to him, nor was he allowed to make a phone call. He was released at 6 a.m. on 29 April 2007. When he asked why he had been detained the only answer he received was that he should not have left his house before 9 May (Soviet Victory Day in the Second World War).
41.  A medical report issued at 6.45 p.m. on 29 April 2007 and submitted by the seventh applicant indicates that he had an abrasion on the right side of his face and a small abrasion on his forehead. He also complained of severe pain in his right thigh but there were no signs of any trauma. A medical report was also submitted to the domestic authorities to substantiate his criminal complaint (see paragraph 45 below).
42.  The applicant also submitted to the Court a written statement from R., dated 29 May 2008, describing the circumstances of their arrest and detention. R. described his arrest together with the seventh applicant and their detention in a court building. He submitted that they were made to stand against a wall. When forty or fifty minutes had passed, the seventh applicant asked how long they had to stand like that. He was rudely reminded that he had been told to shut up and not to turn his head. Then he was grabbed by the legs so that he fell and hit his head. Two policemen pushed his legs apart and a third one kicked him between the legs. He cried out in pain. After some time he was taken to the basement between two policemen. He could not walk unaided because of a serious injury to his genitals.
43.  According to a misdemeanour report drawn up by police officer J.R. on 29 April 2007, the seventh applicant had been shouting and using foul language in a public place (Tammsaare Park) and disturbing other people at 10.30 p.m. on 28 April 2007. Therefore, he had committed a breach of public order. The misdemeanour report refers to a separate report on the questioning of a witness, a police officer, and bears the seventh applicant’s signature next to his remark that he had seen the report but did not agree with the statements contained in it. The report also contains an excerpt from the statement of the rights of the person in respect of whom the proceedings are conducted, signed by the seventh applicant. The rights quoted include the right to counsel and the right to lodge complaints under the Code of Misdemeanour Procedure.
44.  By a decision of 25 May 2007 the Põhja Police Prefecture, in misdemeanour proceedings, fined the seventh applicant EEK 420 (EUR 27) for a breach of public order. According to the decision it had been established that on 28 April 2007 at 10.30 p.m. the seventh applicant had shouted, used foul language and annoyed other people. He did not appeal against the decision.
45.  Each of the applicants made an individual criminal complaint to the public prosecutor’s office or an application to the Chancellor of Justice (Õiguskantsler) after the events described above, complaining that violence had been used against them and alleging that they had been unlawfully deprived of their liberty. The Chancellor of Justice forwarded the applications submitted to him to the public prosecutor’s office.
46.  The first, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh applicants also submitted medical reports to substantiate their allegations. In the first applicant’s complaints it is mentioned that he was arrested together with Zh. The fifth applicant provided the names and personal details of Z. and K., who could give statements concerning the circumstances of his arrest. In his appeal, the seventh applicant referred to R. as a witness. In addition, the fourth applicant appended a video recording of the arrests to his subsequent appeal to the Tallinn Court of Appeal (see paragraph 51 below).
47.  The applicants’ description of the events in their complaints made to the authorities broadly correspond to their factual submissions to the Court summarised above. As to any discrepancies, the first applicant did not mention in his domestic complaints that he personally was beaten with truncheons; his account of events corresponded to that given to the Court by Zh. (see paragraph 18 above). The first applicant also described in general the situation in D-terminal. He thought that there were almost two hundred detainees and about twenty-five police officers. He described a situation where a youngster had called on people to stand up to protest against what was going on. Most of the people who could, had stood up. Then the policemen had started to beat everyone and almost twenty more policemen had rushed in. The protesters were thrown down or forced to sit. By 1 a.m. there were nearly 350 people being held in D-terminal. The seventh applicant submitted in his criminal complaint that in the basement of the court-house there had been many people, some standing facing the wall, some on the floor. He had been placed against the wall. When he had tried to stretch his legs, he was pushed to the floor. He was particularly brutally beaten. He was hit on the head, his legs were pulled apart and an officer sat on his body. All this was accompanied by terrible shouting and noise. The seventh applicant did not mention being hit in the genitals.
48.  In their complaints and subsequent appeals the applicants claimed to be victims of a number of offences described in the Penal Code (Karistusseadustik). They notably referred to physical abuse (Article 121), torture (Article 122), unlawful deprivation of liberty (Article 136), abuse of authority (Article 291) and unlawful treatment of prisoners or persons in detention or custody (Article 324). They further mentioned Articles 3 and 5 and in some cases Articles 6 and 11 of the Convention, and cited various provisions of other international instruments.
49.  The Põhja district prosecutor’s office declined to initiate criminal proceedings, taking the view that the applicants’ arrest and the use of force and special equipment by the police had been lawful.
50.  The applicants appealed to the State Prosecutor’s Office, which dismissed their appeals, emphasising that criminal proceedings were commenced only when there was sufficient information to indicate that an offence had been committed. It noted that during the riot stones and bottles had been thrown at police officers, and there had been violent looting and acts of destruction, during which participants had themselves been injured. Thus, the allegations by the applicants about the circumstances in which they had sustained their injuries were not in themselves sufficient to establish a causal link between the alleged acts and the consequences. Moreover, the police officers were authorised to apply coercive measures and to detain persons suspected of committing criminal offences, but the applicants had not complied with the orders of law-enforcement officers to leave the site of an unauthorised and violent mass meeting. The measures taken in respect of them had been appropriate and no elements of an offence could be identified on the basis of the applicants’ complaints.
51.  The applicants lodged further complaints with the Tallinn Court of Appeal against the refusal to initiate criminal proceedings. The court dismissed them, upholding the finding of the prosecutor’s office that no unequivocal link between the actions of the police officers and the injuries sustained by the applicants could be established. The court held that the use of force by the police had been lawful and there was no evidence that an excessive force had been used. In respect of the allegedly unlawful deprivation of liberty, it noted that under Article 20 of the Constitution, a person could also be deprived of his or her liberty in order to prevent an offence or to prevent his or her escape. No appeal lay against the Court of Appeal’s decision.